It’s been a whirlwind few days for the members of Green Day, who have gone from Italy — where they saw frontman Billie Joe Armstrong admitted to the hospital — to Los Angeles, where they’re prepping for their appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards tonight (Sept. 6).

While Armstrong is apparently resting his voice for tonight’s festivities, his bandmates Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool found time to speak with MTV, sharing the (literally) stomach-churning details of the illness that forced Green Day to cancel a show.

“Billie came down with heavy, heavy dehydration; it was like severe dehydration, influenza, and it was just a really, really bad situation,” Dirnt explained. “He woke up in the morning and it was bad. Let’s put it this way, if you’re in your hotel room and you’re vomiting profusely, it’s not fun. So what are you gonna do? It’s hard to sing while you’re puking.”

Saying Armstrong is recovering thanks to “push-ups, prayers, and vitamins,” Dirnt promised that Green Day would “make our way back to Bologna and play that show ASAP. We don’t miss many shows; we’ve maybe missed five shows out of our entire career and we pride ourselves on that, but we’re human.”